This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application Number 333455/2001, filed Oct. 30, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic accompanying apparatus of an electronic musical instrument which generates accompaniment sound based on a chord detected in accordance with an operation of a keyboard. More particularly, the present invention is directed to the technique to control re-generation of the accompaniment sound (hereinafter, to be referred to also as xe2x80x9cre-triggerxe2x80x9d) in accordance with the detected chord.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an electronic musical instrument with an automatic accompanying apparatus has been developed. An electronic musical instrument is known in which a keyboard is grouped into a chord detection keyboard portion and a general performance keyboard portion. In such an electronic musical instrument, a chord is detected in accordance with an operation of the chord detection keyboard portion to generate accompaniment sound automatically, whereas usual musical sound is generated in accordance with an operation of the general performance keyboard portion.
In the automatic accompanying apparatus, the accompaniment sound is generated as follows. The chord detection is first carried out in accordance with the pushing operation of a few keys of the chord detection keyboard portion. In the chord detection, a chord root, a chord type and a bass root are detected. Subsequently, automatic accompaniment data which has been previously stored in a memory is read. When a step time value contained in the read out automatic accompaniment data is coincident with a value counted by a step time counter which is separately provided, the time is determined to be a sound generation time. The automatic accompaniment data is developed in accordance with the previously detected chord. Then, sound data showing the chord component sounds obtained through the development is sent to a sound source and the accompaniment sound is generated.
The above processes is carried out to generate such accompaniment sound every time a player pushes a few keys of the chord detection keyboard portion. In this way, the player pushes the keys of the chord detection keyboard portion sequentially in accordance with a predetermined pattern, and the accompaniment sound can be generated sequentially in accordance with the key pushing operation.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional automatic accompanying apparatus, the generation of the accompaniment sound is not carried out at the time when the player operates the chord detection keyboard portion. The generation of the accompaniment sound is postponed until the sound generation time specified by the step time in the automatic accompaniment data. In other words, the change of the chord of the accompaniment sound is carried out synchronously to the change of the automatic accompaniment data.
In addition, in another conventional automatic accompanying apparatus, the sound generation is not carried out until the accompaniment progresses to the head of the next measure. The change of the chord of the accompaniment sound is carried out synchronously to the change of the measure.
In this way, in the conventional automatic accompanying apparatuses, it is difficult to carry out the performance because the time when the key is pushed and the time (hereinafter, say xe2x80x9cthe sound generation timexe2x80x9d) that the sounds composed of a chord (hereinafter, to be referred to as xe2x80x9cchord component soundsxe2x80x9d) are generated do not coincide with each other.
In order to solve the above problems, an automatic accompanying apparatus was developed to have a re-trigger function. In the re-trigger function of the automatic accompanying apparatus, currently generated chord component sounds are extinguished at the time when a key is pushed, and a new chord is detected, even if the time is not the sound generation time, and the sound generation of the chord component sounds corresponding to the detected chord is carried out again. By using the re-trigger function, because the chord component sounds are changed at the time when the key is pushed, it is possible to change the chord smoothly to match to sense of the player.
By the way, when a chord performance is carried out by use of a musical instrument such as an organ which generates sustain sound, a part of pushed keys is often pushed again in the chord change. In this case, the chord detection intended by the player is not carried out frequently, as described below. Therefore, an automatic accompanying apparatus was developed in which the chord detection is not only carried out at the time when a key is pushed (hereinafter, to be referred to as xe2x80x9cON detectionxe2x80x9d) but also the chord detection is carried out at the time when the key is released (hereinafter, to be referred to as xe2x80x9cOFF detectionxe2x80x9d).
The operation in this case will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1E. FIG. 1A shows a basic chord pattern with C as a key of the automatic accompaniment data stored in a memory. FIG. 1B shows another basic bass pattern. A case where automatic accompaniment of a bass part is carried out will be described below to avoid complexity of the description.
FIG. 1C shows an accompaniment pattern of the bass part intended by the player. The player pushes the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d at the start of the first measure to specify a chord Am. Thus, a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d at the basic bass pattern sound generation time of the first beat. The key pushing state (the state in which the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d are pushed) is continued, and then the next bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d at the basic bass pattern sound generation time of the third beat. Subsequently, the player releases the key of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and pushes the key of xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d at the end of the first measure to specify a chord C. Thus, because the keys of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d have been pushed, the chord C is detected. The bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d at the time of the first beat of the second measure of the basic bass pattern.
With the above-mentioned intention of the player, in the automatic accompanying apparatus which does not carry out the OFF detection, the ON detection is carried out at the time when the player pushes the key of xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d at the end of the first measure and the chord Am7 is detected, as shown in FIG. 1D. Because the OFF detection is not carried out even if the player releases the key of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d after that, the state after the chord Am7 is detected continues. At the time of the first beat of the second measure of the basic bass pattern, a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d. That is, the sound of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d which is different from the sound of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d intended by the player is generated.
On the other hand, in the automatic accompanying apparatus which carries out the OFF detection, the ON detection is carried out when the player pushes the key of xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d, at the end of the first measure and the chord Am7 is detected, as shown in FIG. 1E. After that, when the player releases the key of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, the chord C is detected because the OFF detection is carried out in the state in which the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d are pushed. As a result, a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d at the time of the first beat of the second measure of the basic bass pattern. That is, the sound coincident with the intention of the-player is generated.
However, in the automatic accompanying apparatus with the re-trigger function, when the automatic accompanying apparatus carries out the OFF detection, the re-trigger operation is carried out at the time when a key is pushed in addition to the time when the key is released. This state will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2C.
FIG. 2A show a basic bass pattern with C as a key stored in a memory as the automatic accompaniment data. In FIG. 2A, a white triangular mark indicates a time that the generation of the bass sound is started in accordance with the basic bass pattern, i.e., a trigger position.
FIG. 2B shows a bass pattern intended by the player. In FIG. 2B, a black triangular mark indicates a time that the generation of the bass sound is started at the time when the key is pushed, i.e., a re-trigger position. The player pushes the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d in the start of the first measure to specify the chord Am. In this way, the trigger operation is carried out at the time of the first beat of the basic bass pattern and a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d. If the key pushing state (the state in which the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d are pushed) continues, a trigger is again carried out at the time of the third beat of the basic bass pattern and a next bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d. Subsequently, when the player releases the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d in the fourth beat and pushes the keys of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, the chord F is detected because the keys of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d are pushed. As a result, the re-trigger operation is carried out at the time of the fourth beat based on the re-trigger function and a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d.
With the above-mentioned intention of the player, only the key of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d is in the pushed state when the player releases the keys of xe2x80x9cExe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d at the time delayed from the third beat of the first measure by a half beat, as shown in FIG. 2C. Therefore, the chord C is detected through the OFF detection. As a result, the re-trigger is carried out at the time delayed from the third beat by a half beat and a bass sound is generated in the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d. Subsequently, when the player pushes the keys of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d in the fourth beat, the keys of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d are in the pushed state. Therefore, the chord F is detected through the ON detection. As a result, the re-trigger is carried out at the time of the fourth beat and a bass sound with the sound pitch of xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d is generated.
As described above, in the automatic accompanying apparatus with the re-trigger function and the OFF detection function, the re-trigger is carried out at the time delayed from the third beat of the first measure by a half beat, as shown in FIG. 2C, but the re-trigger is not intended by the player. As a result, the bass sound is frequently generated unintentionally by the player and hinders the performance.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic accompanying apparatus of an electronic musical instrument in which it is possible to generate accompaniment sound coincident with the intention of a player.
In order to achieve the above object, the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument of the present invention is composed of a keyboard, a chord detecting section which detects a chord when a key of the keyboard is pushed or released, a storage section which stores automatic accompaniment data which contains sound generation times, and a control unit which controls a re-trigger operation in which at one of the sound generation times of the automatic accompaniment data stored in the storage section, the automatic accompaniment data is developed in accordance with the chord detected by the chord detecting section such that an accompaniment sound is generated, and only when the key is pushed at a time other than the sound generation times, the accompaniment sound currently generated is extinguished, and an accompaniment sound is generated in accordance with the chord detected by the chord detecting section.
According to the structure, the chord detection is carried out at the two times when the key of the keyboard is pushed and is released. However, the re-trigger operation is carried out only when the key is pushed and it is not carried out when the key is released. Therefore, the generation of the accompaniment sound through the re-trigger operation not intended by the player is restrained. Thus, it is possible to generate the accompaniment sound in accordance with the intention of the player.
In the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument, the accompaniment sound may be at least one component sound of a chord part and a bass part, i.e., at least one of the component sounds in the chord part, the component sounds in the bass part and the component sounds of both the chord part and the bass part.
At the sound generation time of the automatic accompaniment data stored in the storage section, the control unit of the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument develops the automatic accompaniment data into the component sounds of the chord detected by the chord detecting section such that the component sounds of the chord part are generated, and extinguishes component sounds, not contained in the chord detected by the chord detecting section, from of the component sounds of the chord part currently generated, such that the generation of the remaining component sounds are continued as the component sounds of a new chord part, only when the key is released at the time other than the sound generation times.
According to the structure, when the key is released, the re-trigger operation is not carried out. However, of the component sounds currently generated of the chord part, the component sounds not contained in the chord detected by the chord detecting section are extinguished. Therefore, because re-generation of the accompaniment sound through the re-trigger operation is not carried out, the sound with an attack is never generated. Also, unnaturalness can be avoided that any sound other than the component sounds of the chord is generated.
Also, the control unit in the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument may develop the automatic accompaniment data into the component sounds of the chord detected by the chord detecting section such that the component sounds of a bass part are generated at the sound generation time of the automatic accompaniment data stored in the storage section, and extinguish the component sounds other than a specific one of the component sounds currently generated of the bass part and bends the specific sound temporarily such that a pitch of the specific component sound becomes same as a root sound of the chord detected by the chord detecting section, only when the key is released at the time other than the sound generation times. In this case, the specific sound may be the lowest one of the component sounds of the bass part.
According to the structure, when the key is released, the component sounds other than the specific sound are extinguished of the component sounds currently generated of the bass part. The bend is temporarily carried out such that the pitch of the specific component sound become same as that of the root sound of the chord detected by the chord detecting section. Therefore, the re-generation of the component sounds of the bass part as the result of the re-trigger operation is not carried out. Thus, unnaturalness can be avoided because the bass sound with an attack is never generated and the interval is smoothly switched.
Also, the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument is further composed of a leg keyboard, and the accompaniment sound is composed of the sound of the chord part and the sound of bass part. When any of the leg keyboard is operated and the root sound of the chord detected by the chord detecting section is not changed, the control unit does not carry out the re-trigger operation of the bass part and carries out only the re-trigger operation of the chord part.
According to the structure, when the leg keyboard is operated, the re-trigger operation of the bass part is not carried out and only the re-trigger operation of the chord part is carried out, in case that the root sound is not changed. As a result, it is possible to apply the trigger operation through the operation of the leg keyboard to the bass part and the trigger operation through the operation of the hand keyboard to the chord part. Therefore, in a fractional chord performance, it is possible to separate the control of the bass part by the leg keyboard and the control of the chord part by the hand keyboard. Thus, the response of the automatic accompaniment through the chord detection can be brought closer to the intention of the player.
Moreover, the automatic accompanying apparatus of the electronic musical instrument may be further composed of a leg keyboard. The accompaniment sound contains a bass part. The chord detecting section detects a key of the leg keyboard pushed in the end as the bass root. When the bass root is detected by the chord detecting section, the control unit carries out the re-trigger operation if the generated sound is contained in the bass part and is a root sound. If the generated sound is not contained in the bass part, the sound of the bass part is generated in accordance with a gate time, a velocity and a gate time which are contained in the automatic accompaniment data which defines the sounds of the bass part generated last and a note number of the root sound.